In Orthodox Dating Scene, Matchmakers Go Digital

The breakup had been painful, but Rivka was looking to get back on the dating circuit.

“I don’t think I ever would have seen myself going through an online forum to date,” said the recent Ivy League graduate living on the Upper West Side, citing a background in mixed-gender educational and social settings. “I just thought that I would meet somebody naturally — that’s how most of my past relationships had been.”

“And its merging of old-school and new-school technologies occupies a potent middle ground in a fast-changing Orthodox dating environment.”

But a matchmaker, of sorts, beckoned. Rivka (not her real name), a veteran of the Modern Orthodox dating scene, thought the “human touch” — rather than the impersonal, algorithm-driven technology that brings people together on sites and apps like JDate and the Tinder-inspired JSwipe — had potential.